Student Industry Projects
Solve real business challenges with talented students, supported by academic supervision.
How it works
Partner with us to turn your real-world challenges into impactful student projects. We collaborate with organisations of all sizes to bring industry problems into the classroom, where our students develop practical insights, prototypes, and solutions informed by current technology and research.
Industry projects are unpaid and embedded within students’ studies, delivered in close collaboration with your organisation and academic supervisors. Depending on scope, projects may involve a focused research and development task with one or two students, or a larger, in-depth project delivered by a team of five or more students.
Projects run over one or two academic semesters and are completed on campus.
Ready to get started?
Benefits for industry partners
- Build your future talent pipeline
Engage high-performing students early, build relationships, and identify job-ready graduates. - Gain fresh perspectives
Access innovative, practical solutions to real business challenges. - Retain intellectual property (IP)
Maintain ownership of project outcomes to develop, implement, or commercialise solutions. - Stay connected to emerging trends
Engage with students trained in the latest tools, technologies, and approaches. - A low-barrier pathway to working with the University of Melbourne
Explore collaboration in a structured environment while building relationships for future partnerships.
What type of projects can we work on together?
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Capstone Projects
Designed to be practical and application-oriented, enabling students to solve real-world problems using the skills and knowledge gained throughout their studies.
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Research Projects
Focused on theoretical exploration, these projects generate new knowledge through original research, guided by an academic supervisor.
Steps to get involved
1. Define your challenge
Identify a real-world problem your organisation is currently facing or expects to face in the near future.
2. Find a project mentor
Nominate someone within your organisation to act as the project mentor. They will meet with students, provide guidance throughout the project, and review the final solution. Meeting frequency will depend on the needs of the project.
3. Contact us with your challenge
Submit a project proposal or contact Professor Leon Sterling with the details of your problem, your mentor’s contact information, and how you would like to work with students. We will review the suitability of the project and provide recommendations if needed.
4. Agreement establishment
To protect the interests of both students and industry, participating organisations are required to sign the University’s Vocational Placement Letter Agreement. This outlines the terms of engagement, including intellectual property arrangements, which assign IP to your organisation.
5. Project delivery
Students work on your challenge over a semester or year, supported by academic staff and your nominated project mentor. This ensures the solution remains aligned with your organisational needs.
Get in touch to learn more
- Contact Professor Leon Sterling
- Email:
- leonss@unimelb.edu.au
- Phone:
- +61 3 9214 8491